Abstract
Exposure to radon has been identified as a risk factor for lung cancer in uranium miners, but evidence of adverse health effects due to indoor radon exposure is inconsistent. Ecological studies have suggested a correlation between indoor radon levels and leukaemia incidence. We evaluated the risk associated with indoor residential radon exposure within a larger interview-based case–control study of risk factors for childhood acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). A total of 173 cases and 254 controls met the eligibility criteria, and information was collected through telephone interviews with parents and analysis of alpha-track radon detectors placed in the home for a period of 1 year. No association was observed between radon exposure and risk of AML, with adjusted odds ratios of 1.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7–1.8) for 37–100 Bq m–3 and 1.1 (95% CI 0.6–2.0) for > 100 Bq m–3 compared with < 37 Bq m–3. Although there was an inverse association between radon level and AML risk among children < 2 years at diagnosis, among children ≥2 years, AML risk was increased among those with higher radon exposure. The observed association after age 2 is most likely due to chance. Overall, there was no association between residential radon and risk of childhood AML.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Change history
16 November 2011
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Alavanja, MCR, Brownson, RC, Lubin, JH, Berger, E, Chang, J & Boice, JD (1994) Residential radon exposure and lung cancer among nonsmoking women. J Natl Cancer Inst 86: 1829–1837.
Alexander, FE, McKinney, PA & Cartright, RA (1990) Radon and leukaemia (letter). Lancet 335: 1336–1337.
Bowie, SHU (1990) Radon and leukaemia (letter). Lancet 335: 1336
Breslow, NE & Day, NE (1980). Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Vol. 1, The Analysis of Case–control Studies. IARC Scientific Publication No. 32. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon
Bridges, BA, Cole, J, Artlett, CF, Green, MHL, Waugh, AP, Beare, D, Henshaw, DL & Last, RD (1991) Possible association between mutant frequency in peripheral lymphocytes and domestic radon concentrations. Lancet 337: 1187–1189.
Buckley, JD, Robison, LL, Swotinsky, R, Garabrant, DH, LeBeau, M, Manchester, P, Nesbit, ME, Odom, L, Peters, JM, Woods, WG & Hammond, GD (1989) Occupational exposures of parents of children with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia: a report from the Childrens Cancer Study Group. Cancer Res 49: 4030–4037.
Butland, BK, Muirhead, CR & Draper, CJ (1990) Radon and leukemia (letter). Lancet 335: 1338–1339.
Cole, J, Green, MH, Bridges, BA, Waugh, AP, Beare, DM, Henshaw, D, Last, R, Liu, Y & Cortopassi, G (1996) Lack of evidence for an association between the frequency of mutants or translocations in circulating lymphocytes and exposure to radon gas in the home. Radiat Res 145: 61–69.
Darby, SC, Whitley E Howe, GR, Hutchings, SJ, Kusiak, RA, Lubin, JH, Morrison, HI, Tirmarche, M, Tomasek, L, Radford, EP, Roscoe, RJ, Samet, JM & Yao, SX (1995) Radon exposure and cancers other than lung cancer in underground miners: a collaborative analysis of 11 studies. J Natl Cancer Inst 87: 378–384.
Darby, S, Whitley, E, Silcocks, P, Thakrar, B, Green, M, Lomas, P, Miles, J, Reeves, G, Fearn, T & Doll, R (1998) Risk of lung cancer associated with residential radon exposure in south-west England: a case-control study. Br J Cancer 78: 394–408.
Eatough, JP & Henshaw, DL (1993) Radon and monocytic leukemia in England. J Epidemiol Community Health 47: 506–507.
Forastiere, F, Quiercia, A, Cavariani, F, Miceli, M, Perucci, CA & Axelson, O (1992) Cancer risk and radon exposure (letter). Lancet 339: 115
Henshaw, DL, Eatough, JP & Richardson, RB (1990) Radon as a causative factor in induction of myeloid leukemia and other cancers. Lancet 335: 1008–1012.
Ichimaru, M, Ishimaru, T, Mikami, M, Yamada, Y & Ohkita, T (1981). Incidence of leukemia in atomic bomb survivors and controls in a fixed cohort, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, October 1950–December 1978. In: Radiation Effects Research Foundation Technical Report. Contract Number: RERF-TR-13-81, Hiroshima (Japan)
Letourneau, EG, Krewski, D, Choi, NW, Goddard, MJ, McGregor, RG, Zielinski, JM & Du, J (1994) Case-control study of residential radon and lung cancer in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Am J Epidemiol 140: 310–322.
Lubin, JH & Boice, JD (1997) Lung cancer risk from residential radon: meta-analysis of eight epidemiologic studies. J Natl Cancer Inst 98: 49–57.
Lubin, JH, Boice, JD, Edling, C, Hornung, RW, Howe, GR, Kunz, E, Kusiak, RA, Morrison, HI, Radford, EP, Samet, JM, Tirmarche, M, Woodward, A, Yao, SX & Pierce, DA (1995) Lung cancer in radon-exposed miners and estimation of risk from indoor exposure. J Natl Cancer Inst 87: 817–827.
Lubin, JH, Linet, MS, Boice, JD, Buckley, J, Conrath, S, Hatch, EE, Kleinerman, RA, Tarone, RE, Wacholder, S & Robison, LL (1998) A case-control study of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and residential radon exposure. J Natl Cancer Inst 90: 294–300.
Lucie, NP (1989) Radon and leukaemia (letter). Lancet ii: 99–100.
Miller, D, Morrison, H, Semenciw, R & Mao, Y (1993) Leukemia and residential exposure to radon. Can J Pub Health 84: 205–206.
Mole, RH (1990) Radon and leukaemia (letter). Lancet 335: 1336
Muirhead, CR, Butland, BK, Green, BMR & Draper, CJ (1991) Childhood leukemia and natural radiation (letter). Lancet 337: 503–504.
National Research Council (1988). Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR IV). Health Risks of Radon and Other Internally Deposited Alpha-emitters. National Academy Press: Washington, DC
National Research Council (1997). Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VI). Board on Radiation Effects Research, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council, Health Effects of Exposure to Radon. National Academy Press: Washington, DC
Pershagen, P, Akerblom, G, Axelson, O, Clavensjo, B, Damber, L & Desai, G (1994) Residential radon exposure and lung cancer in Sweden. N Engl J Med 330: 159–164.
Peto, J (1990) Radon and the risks of cancer. Nature 345: 389–390.
Richardson, RB, Eatough, JP & Henshaw, DL (1991) Dose to red bone marrow from natural radon and thoron exposure. Br J Radiol 64: 608–624.
Robison, LL & Daigle, AE (1984) Control selection using random digit dialing for cases of childhood cancer. Am J Epidemiol 120: 164–166.
Robison, LL, Nesbit, ME, Sather, HN, Level, C, Shahidi, N, Kennedy, A & Hammond, D (1984) Down syndrome and acute leukemia in children: a 10-year retrospective survey from Childrens Cancer Study Group. J Pediatr 105: 235–242.
Robison, LL, Buckley, JD, Daigle, AE, Wells, R, Benjamin, D, Arthur, DC & Hammond, GD (1989) Maternal drug use and risk of childhood nonlymphoblastic leukemia among offspring: an epidemiologic investigation implicating marijuana (A report from the Childrens Cancer Study Group). Cancer 63: 1904–1911.
Samet, JM (1989) Radon and lung cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 81: 745–757.
Schoenberg, JB, Klotz, JB, Wilcox, GP, Gil-del-Real, MT, Stemhagen, A & Mason, TJ (1990) Case-control study of residential radon and lung cancer among New Jersey women. Cancer Res 50: 6520–6524.
Severson, RK, Buckley, JD, Woods, WG, Benjamin, D & Robison, LL (1993) Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption by parents of children with acute myeloid leukemia: an analysis within morphologic subgroup (A report from the Children Cancer Group). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2: 433–439.
Shanahan, EM, Peterson, D, Roxby, D, Quintana, J, Morely, AA & Woodward, A (1996) Mutation rates at the glycophorin A and HPRT loci in uranium miners exposed to radon progeny. Occup Environ Med 53: 439–444.
Stjernfeldt, M, Samuelsson, L & Ludvigsson, J (1987) Radiation in dwellings and cancer in children. Pediatr Hematol Oncol 4: 55–61.
Thorne, R, Foreman, NK & Mott, MG (1996) Radon in Devon and Cornwall and pediatric malignancies. Eur J Cancer 32A: 282–285.
Viel, JF (1993) Radon exposure and leukemia in adulthood. Int J Epidemiol 22: 627–631.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Steinbuch, M., Weinberg, C., Buckley, J. et al. Indoor residential radon exposure and risk of childhood acute myeloid leukaemia. Br J Cancer 81, 900–906 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6690784
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6690784
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Risk of leukaemia or cancer in the central nervous system among children living in an area with high indoor radon concentrations: results from a cohort study in Norway
British Journal of Cancer (2014)
-
A geostatistical approach for mapping and uncertainty assessment of geogenic radon gas in soil in an area of southern Italy
Environmental Earth Sciences (2010)
-
The United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study of exposure to domestic sources of ionising radiation: 1: radon gas
British Journal of Cancer (2002)
-
Radon and childhood cancer
British Journal of Cancer (2002)